Hotel Review: Sheraton Austin Hotel at the Capitol
When I wound up in Austin instead of San Antonio on Valentine’s Day, I was a little worried about finding an affordable hotel room. Many places were sold out, and you know you’re in trouble when the Hyatt Place is going for over $300. But fortunately the Sheraton Austin was available last minute for $299 or 10,000 points. I went with the points.
It’s a quick 10-15 minute drive from the airport and really easy to get to. The hardest part of navigating was the parking garage which was pretty full and has very tight corners on the ramps. But I finally found a place on the top deck, which FYI – has no elevator access, and took the stairs down to the third floor to check in.
Though the lobby was busy at 8PM, there was only one other person in front of me. (Lobby below was at 9 AM)
I’d been put on the top floor with lounge access and the front desk person asked if I wanted points as my welcome amenity. I joked “unless I can get free parking†and she said she’d throw that in as well! (Definitely off to a good start)
I was in 1609 which is spacious but doesn’t have much of a view. It didn’t really matter as I wouldn’t be spending much time there.
The bathroom was quite large.
The lounge appeared to be serving food and drinks until about 9:30, so I headed down to check it out.
There were a few people in the lounge so I decided not to take pictures, but my first impression is that it was very crowded. They have nice big comfortable chairs and tables, but not enough space in between them so it’s hard to navigate. The food options were decent – hot egg rolls, sliced vegetables and fruit, cheese and crackers. The alcoholic drinks were not complimentary, which didn’t really bother me until I saw the prices. $8 a glass for mediocre wine, $7 for a cocktail. I don’t need it to be free, but it would be nice if there was some discount compared to the bar downstairs. 
The next morning I went back to the lounge right before breakfast was supposed to start at 7:30. No lights were on and the room was crammed, and I mean crammed, with a college soccer team. The attendant was doing a good job of restocking the bagels and fruit (the hot food wasn’t out yet), but it was overwhelming so I grabbed a box of cereal and left.
I had an additional incentive for not lingering over breakfast – they were offering “early birds†a perk for checking out by 9AM. Since I had wanted to be on the road by 9:30 anyway, speeding it up a little to net 500 points was definitely worth it!
I was out late the night before and left early so I didn’t have a chance to check out the pool or fitness center, but from a distance it looked like they had nice decks, etc.
I’d love to take advantage of bonus points for an early check-out. I’m usually out of the room before breakfast anyway, so it’s easy points for me.
Same here! I often leave around 5am on work trips 🙂